"Elf," the musical theater production of the Will Ferrell movie, will be part of Theatre Under The Stars 2013-14 season.

"Elf," the musical theater production of the Will Ferrell movie, will be part of Theatre Under The Stars 2013-14 season.

Photo: Mark Kitaoka

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"Priscilla Queen of the Desert" is about three drag entertainers adventuring in the Australian outback.

"Priscilla Queen of the Desert" is about three drag entertainers adventuring in the Australian outback.

Photo: Joan Marcus

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The music of Queen takes center stage in "We Will Rock You."

The music of Queen takes center stage in "We Will Rock You."

Photo: Courtesy Theatre Under The Stars

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Improving on the movie cast is always a tough task for any production of "The Wizard of Oz."

Improving on the movie cast is always a tough task for any production of "The Wizard of Oz."

Photo: Cylla Von Tiedemann

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The Wizard Of Oz will be part of Theatre Under The Stars' 2013-14 season.

The Wizard Of Oz will be part of Theatre Under The Stars' 2013-14 season.

Photo: Cylla Von Tiedemann

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"Evita," based on the life of Argentina's former first lady Eva Perón, returns to the stage.

"Evita," based on the life of Argentina's former first lady Eva Perón, returns to the stage.

Photo: Richard Termine

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"Little Mermaid" draws from a Disney classic.

"Little Mermaid" draws from a Disney classic.

Photo: Music Theatre Of Wichita

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TUTS puts popular culture in spotlight

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Movie adaptations, jukebox musicals and revivals of ultra-familiar fare have dominated Broadway in recent years.

That's also the tune Theatre Under The Stars will be singing in its 2013-14 season, offering "Elf," "The Little Mermaid," "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" and "We Will Rock You," along with the return of "Evita" and the stage version of "The Wizard of Oz."

The trend is on shows drawn from popular movies (some made for kids) and shows built around pop music. "Priscilla" is both movie adaptation and disco-era jukebox.

TUTS seems to be veering ever farther from more subtle, artistically ambitious fare - whether that means classic shows, both well known and neglected, or the more exciting new works by the best contemporary theater composers.

Interestingly, this will be the first TUTS season without a single classic American stage musical.

Which does seem kind of funny for a nonprofit musical theater company - especially in a season with one show devoted to Queen and another to 1980s disco music.

Also interesting, though TUTS began as a production company exclusively, this season includes only two shows TUTS will produce ("Elf" and "Little Mermaid"), while the other four will be imported tours. That TUTS is becoming increasingly a tour presenter, virtually indistinguishable from the Broadway at Hobby series, may be another explanation for the shift in programming.

"We always try to do a representative mix of current Broadway and the classics. Most seasons, that consists of three locally produced shows and three tours. However, on occasion, that ratio will vary. In any season, that mix can be impacted by the availability of rights for local productions, how recently we've done a specific title and what shows are on tour.

"In the upcoming season, we have a mix of classics, family-friendly entertainment and more contemporary-feeling shows, which might both be considered 'jukebox,' " he said, adding that TUTS was not shifting the focus of its programming or the way it selects which shows to include.

TUTS lineup for 2013-14

"Priscilla Queen of the Desert," Sept. 29-Oct. 12: The stage adaptation of the 1994 Australian film premiered in Sydney in 2006. After successful runs there and in Melbourne, it ran in London from March 2009 to December 2011. The Broadway production opened in March 2011 and played for 526 performances. The plot, about three drag entertainers adventuring in the Australian outback en route to a club gig, plays out to a (mostly) disco-era soundtrack - explaining why some critics have likened it to a karaoke club. For many, the campy extravaganza's strongest suit has been the outrageous costumes by Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner, who won a Tony and Oscar for their contributions.

"Elf," Dec. 6-19: The 2003 movie was a vehicle for Will Ferrell as Buddy, an overgrown elf who discovers he's not one at all, but a human who accidentally wound up at the North Pole, raised by elves. So he journeys to New York to find his real family. The musical features a pleasant score by up-and-coming theater team Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin, who got a Tony nomination for their work on the 2006 musical of "The Wedding Singer." Besides several regional mountings, "Elf" has had two holiday-season Broadway engagements, in 2010 and 2012, to mixed reviews that acknowledged its professional polish.

"We Will Rock You," Jan. 22-Feb. 2, 2014: Repackaging a slew of Queen hits is the raison d'être for this show, which squeezes them into a bizarre sci-fi scenario set 300 years in the future. It premiered in London in 2002 to critical brickbats - yet it's still running there. Though it hasn't been tried on Broadway, it has played in Las Vegas. A tour was threatened a few seasons ago, but clearer heads prevailed - until now.

"The Wizard of Oz," March 4-16, 2014: If anything needs no introduction, it's the 1939 film of L. Frank Baum's fantasy classic - the movie everyone knows by heart, along with its Arlen-Harburg songs. Various stage editions, including several tours and two TUTS mountings - usually hit that snag of "how can anyone compare with the indelible performances of the perfect screen cast?" This latest is something different. Produced in London in 2011 by Andrew Lloyd Webber, it features several new songs added by Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice to fill in the spots where a theater version requires songs that the movie did not provide - i.e., numbers for the Wizard and the Wicked Witch. The tour is based on the 2012 Toronto production of the "Lloyd Webber Wizard."

"Evita," May 6-18, 2014: Rice and Lloyd Webber's pop opera, based on the life of Argentina's controversial first lady Eva Perón, premiered in London in 1978 and ran for 3,176 performances. The Broadway production opened in 1979, won the Tony and played 1,567 performances. Since its original success - one of Lloyd Webber's biggest hits - "Evita" has seemed ever with us, with many tours and free-standing productions, not to mention the ballyhooed 1996 film starring Madonna. The new tour will be based on the recent Broadway revival, which opened in March 2012 and played 337 performances.

"The Little Mermaid," June 13-26, 2014: The latest of the Disney empire's movie-to-stage adaptations to reach Houston is based on the popular 1989 animated film, based in turn on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale. The stage version retains the Oscar-winning score by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, with additional songs by Menken and Glen Slater. It premiered on Broadway in June 2008 and ran through August 2009 - a healthy 685 performances, yet a disappointment by the standards of such Disney blockbusters as "The Lion King." It has since found favor internationally and in regional mountings.